


News Flash

by SparkyArcher



Series: Wardens to Inquisitors and Everything in Between [9]
Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Angst, Comfort, emotional stress, tears and lots of them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-10-09 15:06:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10414881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparkyArcher/pseuds/SparkyArcher
Summary: Willow finally hits 'fuck it'. Surprisingly, Tornta is the one to pick up the pieces.





	

It had been a trying day for the Warden’s and co. as they sat around the campfire doing their own things. Willow, in particular, seemed far more solemn than usual as the night was free from her sarcastic quips and suggestive comments. It was starting to get unnerving. Tornta was starting to worry, although she’d never admit it, she was meant to be the down to earth (lol), serious one and the elf was meant to be the stupid one that made every situation a joke. This wasn’t natural.   
“Hey, elf, what’s eating you?” Tornta asked, plopping next to Willow on the log while said elf continued ridding her sword of the blood of Tevinter magisters.   
“Nothing.” Willow whispered unconvincingly.  
“Come on, you can talk to me.” Tornta was not good at the whole comforting and maybe lightly punching Willow’s arm wasn’t a good idea since it caused the elf to drop her sword.  
“I’d rather not.” Willow huffed, standing up to walk away.  
“What’s wrong with you? You’re acting like you don’t even want to be here.” Tornta scoffed only to recoil a moment later as the elf fixed her with a harsh glare that was normally reserved for enemies and Sten.  
“I don’t!” Willow shouted, gaining the attention of their companions, “I don’t want to be here! I never did! I never wanted to be a Grey Warden, I never wanted to be part of some stupid war! I never asked for any of this!” tears were starting to fall down Willow’s face as her hysteria only grew, she’d been treating life like a joke for so long that she’d forgotten how to control her own emotions, “All I wanted to do was protect my family and apparently that makes me a criminal! And now because of that, I wasn’t able to be there when my family, my home, needed me! How many elves did Loghain let those bastards take huh? How many lives could I have saved if I wasn’t a Grey Warden!”   
“If you don’t want to be here why do you stick around?” Tornta asked and for once it wasn’t to be mean, she was genuinely curious as to why Willow was here if she hated it so much. By this point, though, most of their companions had gone back to doing what they were doing and pretending they weren’t listening.  
“Because I owe it to Duncan.” Willow’s voice was returning to her normal volume but the waterfall of tears wouldn’t stop. With a sigh, the elf sat on the ground in front of the log and brought her knees to her chest as she sniffed, “I may not have wanted any of this but Duncan saved my life by taking me into the Warden’s even if he didn’t mean to. So I owe it to him to clear his name and the name of the Grey Wardens and to finish what he started, or try to anyway.” Willow sighed when she finished, it’d been far too long since she’d had a breakdown and she was already regretting it.  
“You are one dumb ass elf.” Tornta sighed, wrapping an arm around her friend’s shoulder in a comforting hug. “You may not have wanted it but you’re here now and you’ve got us too. To be honest, if you had been in the alienage you probably would have gotten killed, knowing you.” Willow giggled at the statement and wiped her eyes on her sleeve.  
“Thanks.” She grinned, “Next time I do something like that, punch me. Hard.”  
“My pleasure.”

**Author's Note:**

> Welp......Willow was finally serious and it is tragic. But, as is often the case, the ones with the brightest smiles hide the most tears.


End file.
